Wild Gourmet: Chapter 21

The smithy was lit when he arrived. Orange light spilled through the open doorway and into the street, which surprised him given the hour. He could hear voices inside as he approached. One was Shou’s. The other was higher and faster.

Neil?

Brand stepped through the door and found Shou kneeling beside Neil, working a buckle on what was clearly a new set of armor. The leather almost black, striped in some places and covered where the ashwolf’s fur had been left near the shoulders and cuffs. Neil was standing with his arms out and his back straight, allowing himself to be dressed but obviously anxious to test drive his new gear.

“Do you normally get started this early?”

“No.” Shou didn’t look up. He tilted his head slightly toward Neil. “But this one was at my door an hour ago. I guess he’s here to see his new weapons and armor.” He tugged a buckle tight. “I was up late just making it with Luisa. I don’t think I slept more than three or four hours.”

Brand stepped closer and took a better look at the armor as Shou stood back. Closer up, he could see just how rough it was. It wasn’t quite as symmetrical as it could have been, and he spied a few stitches that were perhaps looser than they might have been. It was the best work Luisa and Shou had put out yet, but the amateur nature of even their best efforts was visible in the product.

Still, he could see improvement. The leather seemed better treated, stiffer where it needed to be to protect vital areas and softer in places it needed to flex. Luisa was getting better, even if she wasn’t quite there yet.

He spotted her around that moment, sitting on the ground near the base of the wall with her back against the stone. Her eyes were half open, and while she was tracking the process, Brand could tell she was running on fumes.

“You two can’t keep doing this.” Brand said. He looked from Luisa back to Shou. “Working through the night every time there’s a new project. You’ll burn yourselves out.”

“It’s fine.” Shou said. “We wanted to get it done while the materials were fresh.”

“It’s not fine. Rest matters. I didn’t learn much in the war, but I learned that.”

“Are you sure about that?” Shou gave him a pointed look. “Because you don’t look like you got very good sleep yourself.”

“That’s not for lack of trying.” Brand rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed to be caught out. “The system did something to me last night. My class expanded. It hit me in the middle of the night and my brain wouldn’t shut off after that.”

Shou tightened the last buckle on Neil’s chest piece and stepped back, giving the armor a final once-over before turning and walking into the back of the shop. Neil’s hand was already reaching for the new spear on the workbench when Shou’s voice stopped him.

“Not yet.” Shou came back carrying the weapon in both hands. “I want Brand to look at it first. Make sure it’s up to standard before you fall in love with it.”

Neil’s hand dropped. Brand moved away from the new spear and picked up Neil’s original weapon instead, the one that Neil had been using since Brand’s first day in Bell. He turned it over in his hands a few times before the system let him know exactly what he was looking at.

“Better than I thought.” Brand set it back down carefully. “The system actually recognizes this as a class weapon.”

“It had better.” Shou said. “Given how many times he’s convinced me to sharpen and touch up the head. I’ve honestly lost count.”

“Was it breaking that often?”

“No. It never broke. Neil just knows that I can make it a little better every time my class grows. He’s been taking full advantage of that.”

He set the old spear aside and picked up the new one. The difference was immediately and obviously clear to him. It was heavier than the salvaged weapon, for one. He gave it a single clumsy thrust, mostly just to confirm that the system didn’t recognize spears as part of his class appropriate weaponry. It felt solid, but he got little out of it beyond that before the description hit.

“I can’t tell anything more than you can. It’s not part of my class.” Brand handed it back. “But it seems fine. Solid.”

“Good.” Shou took the spear and turned to Neil. “This is the best I’m going to do for a while. And my leveling has well and truly slowed down now. I expect you to wait at least a week or so before you bother me about sharpening it again.”

Neil nodded and took the spear with both hands.

“Thank you. I can’t wait to use it.”

“I can’t wait to see it used.” Shou said. “Now get out of here. I have more work to do.”

Neil nodded again, glanced over at Luisa, who was now fully asleep and snoring softly against the wall. He appeared to decide against waking her. He slipped out the door with his new spear and armor, then was gone.

Shou turned back to Brand.

“Tell me more about what you meant. The new skills.”

Brand told him everything he could about the dream, the system’s explanation, how butchery had split into two daughter skills. While he mentioned the compendium, that was of limited interest to both of them in the context of their conversation. The skill related to his throwing received a much more thorough explanation.

Shou listened without interrupting, nodding occasionally to indicate he hadn’t fallen asleep. When he was done, the smith waved him toward the back of the shop.

“Come on. We’ll do some tests.”

“Shouldn’t you get some sleep?”

“After. This won’t take long.”